Annemarie Reilly

Chief of Staff

Annemarie Reilly is Chief of Staff to Catholic Relief Services President Ken Hackett. She oversees the President's office and ensures clear and effective implementation of agency strategy and directives from the President through the five Executive Vice Presidents. Her key areas of professional experience and expertise include emergency preparedness and response, program and budget management, and strategic planning.

Annemarie first joined CRS in 1992 with the El Salvador country program, primarily responsible for programs in the health sector. She quickly advanced to senior management positions in Angola, Haiti, Burundi and Liberia, developing significant experience overseeing multi-sectoral programs in complex civil conflicts.

She returned to CRS headquarters to use this experience as the agency's first Emergency Response Technical Advisor. In this position, Annemarie was instrumental in the creation of the Emergency Response Team (ERT) in 1999. Subsequently, she moved to Nairobi, Kenya to take on the role of Team Leader of the Emergency Response Team, a group of technical specialists charged with building the agency's overall capacity for high-quality emergency preparedness, response and recovery programs. Under her leadership, the team responded to a variety of high-profile crises in areas including Kosovo (1999 conflict); Gujarat, India (2001 earthquake), Afghanistan (2001 conflict) and Southern Africa (2002 food security crisis).

After three years of service as Regional Director for Southern Africa (2003 to 2006), covering seven country programs (Angola, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), Annemarie once again returned to Baltimore in 2006 to work as Director of Overseas Operations Strategy. She was responsible directly for development of an agency-wide five year strategic plan in the area of emergency preparedness and response. She became Chief of Staff in January, 2007.

Annemarie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government and French from the University of Notre Dame and a Master's in International Affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, with specializations in Economic and Political Development and Latin American Studies. She was born and raised in New City, New York, and currently lives with her family in northern Baltimore.